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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 25, 2022 16:16:47 GMT -5
Great, now we've got the stovepipe covered! Thanks, Rob!
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 21, 2022 9:08:15 GMT -5
PHANTOM STRANGER #23, by Jim Aparo: I'm going to assume that this phantom is wearing an opera hat, so that between this and EdoBosnar's entry, we have two out of three of foxley's example alternatives covered. Who's going to step up with the stovepipe variant?
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 20, 2022 9:35:39 GMT -5
5. Dr. Doom and the Sub-MarinerMy first complete series review thread here, Bad Tidings, was devoted to Marvel's mid-70's series, SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP, so how could I not include the leads of that uneven-but-never-uninteresting run here in this year's CCC? You may well argue, as did readers of the day, that Namor didn't merit "super-villain" status, but there's no arguing against the logo, people! Doctor Doom was one of my favorite villains early on. I think my first exposure to him was in MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #4, the cover logo of which promoted Doom (along with the Thing and the Silver Surfer) as one of the three leads, rather than the Fantastic Four, from whose comic the interior was reprinted. But I've established the significance of logo several times already this year, so even if Doom's billing here wasn't quite as formal as I'd like, it counted in my 12-year-old mind. Namor took a lot longer to grow on me, but he would eventually become one of my favorite Marvel characters, which he remains to this day. The pairing of these two as a highly unstable but menacing team made sense to me, both of them royalty dealing with tragic circumstances. What I found most fascinating was that unlike more carefully calculated teams, this pairing forced together very similar personalities rather than intentionally contrasting ones. Both were haughty, boastful, aggressive men, who should have been in opposition according to their nature, constantly trying to get the upper hand on one another, but men of honor, in their own way, bound by oath, obligated to the letter of their pact. Yes, it was better in concept than in execution, which we could say about many of this year's entries, but in comics, an intriguing concept can often make up for a flawed production, and for me, S-V T-U did just that, thanks to this memorable and menacing match-up!
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 20, 2022 7:40:57 GMT -5
foxley
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 19, 2022 10:51:23 GMT -5
Roquefort Raider , you got Bushwhacker and Ammo the wrong way round. Bushwhacker is the one can form his arm into a gun, and Ammo is the Village People reject with an eyepatch and blonde dye job. Thanks! All fixed now. Being unfamiliar with any of them, this was pretty confusing, since on that cover, the guy with the gun-arm also had blond hair and a patch over his eye. Evidently the Ammo character doesn't appear on this cover? Anyway, "Ammo" seems like a more appropriate name for the gun-arm guy, so I was really befuddled! Edited to respond to a later post, because I don't want to clutter this thread with too much discussion: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't know how I missed Ammo on the cover there, but I didn't see him. I wouldn't say this is a poorly composed cover, but somehow that figure just didn't register in my brain.
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 18, 2022 9:55:36 GMT -5
7. The Terrible 5The version of Captain Marvel presenting this troop of trademark transgressors was the star of the first superhero comic I ever remember reading and owning, so while it's largely the nostalgic call-back to my roots that earns them their spot here, this comic is fascinating in ways beyond any run-of-the-mill picking from 1966 would be. Myron Fass, of M.F. Enterprises, chose to start his superhero comics line by appropriating what he figured to be defunct trademarks, starting with a biggie, Captain Marvel, the body-splitting robot in a hideous magenta onesie. Riding the camp wave behind tv's Batman, Fass must have concluded that the colorful villains were as big a draw as the caped crusaders, so he quickly spun off this title from the ongoing CAPTAIN MARVEL, highlighting several of the villains already established along with a few new ones. It's really just another issue of CAPTAIN MARVEL, and it includes a recap of Marv's origin and powers for the new readers he hoped would be drawn in by this cringingly non-euphonious title. Fass had, apparently, already been put on warning from DC's lawyers, since the former "Plasticman" was redubbed "Elasticman" as of this issue. That didn't stop him from introducing his own "Dr. Fate", though. The "Dr. Doom" listed on the cover is "Prof. Doom" inside, but I wouldn't assume that Marvel Comics had come calling just yet; more likely, they didn't want two "doctors" in the book. "Tinyman" is Doll Man under a different name, "Atom-Jaw" is essentially Iron Jaw from BOY COMICS. While Prof. Doom only appears in a solo encounter against Marvel, the Terrible Four Out of Five do get together in the rest of the book, although Tinyman quickly bows out of the action, flirting with becoming a superhero himself, as will be seen in later issues. But the Terrible Three Out of Five finally get together. Of course, they're still outnumbered by the hero who can split into as many independent parts as there are joints in the human body, and as the big CCA stamp on the cover demands, all of them face justice in the end. The following (final) issue had a different "Terrible Five", apparently including the now-heroic Tinyman, or else Fass was confident that the readership of this stuff couldn't count that high. That time, the villains included the Ray (formerly the Bat, who had trampled on both Batman's trademark name and visual representation), the Destroyer (a better name for a villain than the then-defunct Marvel superhero, I must admit, Tarzac, who is not a jungle lord but instead a third-rate Sub-Mariner), and Big Max and his Ghost Patrol; apparently Fass had a nice collection of Golden Age comics from which to loot names! None of them teamed up this time around, so it may be pushing things to call "the Terrible 5" a true team, but hey, the logo counts for a lot with me, as I've already established! I'm not trying to convince anyone that these are gems that anyone else would love. I've got a soft spot for this Captain Marvel, and I get a kick out of the jaw-droppingly bad comics that littered the stands over the decades. So here they are!
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 15, 2022 21:34:03 GMT -5
10. The Forgotten Villains from DC COMICS PRESENTS #77-78 Atom-Master, who took on Superman, Batman, and Robin in WORLD'S FINEST #101! Enchantress, star of her own feature in STRANGE ADVENTURES #187, 191, 200! The Faceless Hunter from Saturn, who menaced humanity in STRANGE ADVENTURES #124,142,153! Kraklow, the ancient wizard who turned Rip Hunter into a "time creature"! Mr. Poseidon, who dared to face the Sea Devils! Ultivac, early foe of the Challengers of the Unknown! Since I was a kid, I considered getting an official logo on the front of a comic as a special honor of formality, a promotion from the minors into the big leagues. That feeling still held sway with me in 1978 1984* when these guys ranked for cover billing alongside Superman, displacing the previously listed co-stars, The Forgotten Heroes, in the second of a two-parter. And I've always gotten a kick out of revivals of long-forgotten characters who held--even if ever so briefly--their own comics features (I'm still waiting for someone to revive Black Brother and Calvin at Marvel!). So how could I not have a soft spot for this resurrection of bottom-of-the-barrel menaces, even if I'd never heard of most of them? But they got a logo, they were now legit in my eyes! Enchantress I knew, from reprints of one or two of her solos in the 48-page era of ADVENTURE COMICS. All the others were ciphers to me, coming into comics when reprints of DC's lesser features like Sea Devils, Challengers, and Rip Hunter were extremely rare. With all the forgotten villains who had littered DC's history, Marv Wolfman went the extra mile by recruiting from the forgotten features, as well! I was delighted! The biggest treat was the Faceless Hunter from Saturn, one of the few menaces to make multiple return appearances in DC's science-fiction anthologies...and I'd always been fond of "faceless" characters like The Question and Red Tornado, don't ask me why! DC must have agreed with me about the logo thing, because this team merited a page in WHO'S WHO, over who knows how many villains that were passed over. We may never see this team again...at least until a new generation searches through the library for more forgotten characters to revive, and the Faceless Hunter shall hunt again! *Thanks for the correction, EdoBosnar! I had the issue number on my mind when I (mis)typed that!
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 14, 2022 13:46:06 GMT -5
THE PHANTOM #33, August 1969, Charlton Comics Art and Lettering by Jim Aparo
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 13, 2022 10:07:22 GMT -5
It's the first day of Classic Comics Christmas 2022 and we already have a duplicate, because my #12 is the same as supercat's... 12. The Gas Gang, debuting in METAL MEN #6, Feb/Mar 1964 Well, I do love an audacious concept, and this one certainly fits the bill! One might think it was an obvious idea: you've got a team of super-hero robot made of specific metallic elements, it's only natural to pit them against another team of element-based robots. But... gas ?! I applaud the creative team of writer Robert Kanigher and artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito for conceiving and executing this daft team of villainous vapors! While the idea alone is enough for me to love them, their debut short-changed the reader, as issues of Metal Men tended to do. Padded with flashbacks (including a half-page reproduction of the previous issue's cover!), daydreams, sequences that repeat the same essential information, this issue doesn't even introduce the Gas Gang until part 4, on page 20 of a 25 page story! Doc Magnus has been transformed into an emotionless robot, and when he threatens to replace the Metal Men with "robots of gases--or liquids--or--", Gold, Mercury, and co. lock up their creator in his quarters. While the Metal Men research a means of turning Doc human again, Magnus is fulfilling his latest lunatic vision--the Gas Gang! If that isn't the epitome of Silver Age silliness I don't know what is! The Metal Men succumb to uncontrollable laughter--not because of the absurdity of their antagonists, but because they are (somehow!) vulnerable to the initial effects of chloroform! Oxygen then rusts them, Carbon Monoxide asphyxiates them (what?!) and Carbon Dioxide freezes them, leaving Helium to float them to the scrap heap, until, of course, Gold comes up with a "scientific" approach to burning away the enemy. And of course, Doc recovers his humanity. But the Gas Gang is too good an idea to use up in four measly pages, so they return in "Revolt of the Gas Gang" in issue 10, Oct/Nov 1964. Once again, Doc has a mind to destroy the Metal Men, 5/6ths of which have assembled into a monstrous amalgamation. He decides to get the Gang back together, and once again, Kanigher puts it off as long as he can, with Doc Magnus rebuilding the villains on page 18! The Gas Gang made a third and final (somewhat) substantive appearance in the highly regarded "Whatever Happened to What's'ername?" by Charlie Boatner and Jim Aparo, in BRAVE & BOLD #187, Jun 1982: Jim's fully faithful to Andru's comical designs, but the Gas Gang almost immediately disappears to allow for a parade of many more of the Metal Men's most outlandish foes, as the mystery of Tin's long-forgotten robot girlfriend is solved. So why do I like these guys? Unapologetically, I get a big kick out of nutty ideas in comics. I can only imagine how many wild premises were thrown out because they weren't sustainable, couldn't carry a whole story, wouldn't make for good ongoing threats. The Gas Gang is one of those ideas that expire almost as soon as they're defined, and Kanigher must have recognized that, using them in so limited a manner in their own few appearances. What counts is not how the Metal Men fought with a bunch of gases, it's just that they did.
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 8, 2022 10:53:59 GMT -5
It's definitely all-new; I was a faithful Legion reader at the time and this was a big deal publication. Issues C-53 through C-56 and issues C-58, C-60, and C-62 were retitled "All-New Collectors' Edition", and contained previously unpublished comics, while the reprints in the run were issued under the title "Limited Collectors' Edition".
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 7, 2022 18:18:43 GMT -5
DC GRAPHIC NOVEL #7, art by Alex Nino:
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Post by MWGallaher on Nov 30, 2022 19:01:20 GMT -5
Here's a 10th issue that's a genuine favorite! This is the first comic that specifically came to mind when I thought "tenth issue". I've got very vivid memories of buying this and being thrilled to see Man-Thing in his own feature, starting in ADVENTURE INTO FEAR #10. Art by the incredible Gray Morrow.
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Post by MWGallaher on Nov 29, 2022 14:24:26 GMT -5
Farrar for me, too.
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Post by MWGallaher on Nov 23, 2022 10:11:27 GMT -5
ACTION COMICS WEEKLY #630
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Post by MWGallaher on Nov 9, 2022 16:51:42 GMT -5
STRANGE ADVENTURES #62, November 1955, DC Comics Art by Gil Kane & Joe Giella
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